Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The preview for Wednesday's issue is at Newsarama, but it already looks like poor Hot Rod is going to be replaced as captain of the Lost Light. Which would break my heart--if the Star Trek franchise teaches you anything, it's that if you can become captain of a starship, take the job and never, ever give it up. (Seriously, ever. Don't take a promotion. Or a demotion. Don't retire. I'd even think twice about changing ships.)

It's even worse since a previous issue established Megatron as the person Hot Rod would most like to punch. But I'm pretty sure Hot Rod watched enough TV on earth to call him "Meg," after Family Guy...Read more!

Monday, April 28, 2014

I'll usually throw in for a Gold Key Twilight Zone comic when I find a cheap one, although the quality varies wildly for story to story and issue to issue. Mostly, because I have fond memories of a beat digest with a ton of stories in it, that the GCD has as Mystery Comics Digest #12. (Which we took a look at years back!)

This wasn't the strongest issue, yeah. There's a twist ending you saw coming...

From Twilight Zone #52, with art by John Celardo, Frank Bolle, Jack Sparling, and Jose Delbo.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Caught up on a couple episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D....not much else. I did finish Enemies and Allies from Kevin J. Anderson. It's a Superman/Batman novel and a period piece, set in the 1950's. I don't think I realized the latter when I ordered this.

I did like the chapters where Bruce Wayne realizes Lex Luthor has bribed or blackmailed the entire board of directors of Wayne Enterprises; and after digging up the dirt on the directors, Bruce lets the worthless playboy act drop a bit. He also has them slip Luthor fake, doctored blueprints and plans; so when Luthor steals them to build himself, the equipment won't work. Which nearly results in nuclear holocaust, but that's not on Bruce...Anderson admits a minor cheat: Luthor works on some fear-mongering with Senator Joe McCarthy, who was dead before the launch of Sputnik. But he's such a well-known douchebag, even if you're barely familiar with American history, Anderson wanted to sneak him in.

Still in training this week, but maybe I'll get some actual comics read this weekend! Read more!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

I felt like I didn't pick up any toys for quite a while; then a bunch of clearance and marked down stuff falls into my lap. Like this mini Kre-O Enterprise. Got the stickers on straighter this time!
It's not a terribly complicated build, although I misread a step and didn't get the saucer section on right the first time. Thought it should be longer...There's a little light-up base as well, although I'm not taking any pictures with my thumbs in them today.
For some reason, I thought this was four bucks or so at Toys R Us, and passed on it more than once. Then I found it at TJ Maxx for four bucks and grabbed it right up. Couldn't say why, but I was mildly surprised they had the Enterprise rather than the other three, less desirable ships. And I found Marvel Legends Dark Wolverine for $6.99, too. He was the masked version, and while I would've preferred the unmasked, it was mostly for the Arnim Zola arm. Just need to find a torso and headpiece now. Sooner or later...Read more!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

There's going to be another Nova figure in the Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends wave later this year, and it'll probably be better than either of them here. For me, the older Marvel Legends one is Richard; and the slightly crummy Spider-Man cartoon one is Sam.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Some time ago, we looked at the Playmates Star Trek 3 3/4 inch figures and bridge playset, which is still on sale at some locations to this day--not a five year mission I'd recommend. And since said bridge was sold as a separate mat and base in addition to build-a-figure pieces that came separately with the figures, it's not really completable since the planned second wave of figures never came out.
Neither Playmates 3 3/4 inch or (sorta) 6 inch lines set the sales world on fire, so for Star Trek Into Darkness Kre-O may have been the only game in town. Originally around the $70 price point, the U.S.S. Enterprise set was $35 last week on Amazon--aw, it's under $30 now! Bastards...well, I did get free shipping, so good enough.
I started putting it together while watching Into Darkness--a movie I liked in theaters but seem to find more wrong with every time I watch it--and wasn't quite done by the end. I may not have been close, even; but I did finish before I went to sleep. It seemed to go faster than the Kre-O Optimus Prime did, though. Some thoughts:
1. I probably should've taken a picture of it before putting it together, but a good chunk of the main body and the struts are a solid piece, not Kre-O bricks. That's probably in part due to the battery casing and light-up feature, but it also may have been too difficult to engineer the struts out of bricks that would still support the weight of the nacelles. (If you're not a big Star Trek nerd, the nacelles are the dual engine pieces on the back!)
2. Along with the light-up feature, there's also a torpedo launcher. Not super-strong, but not terrible as these things go. Probably not 100% necessary either, but there it is. The firing studs are positioned just about right to accidentally shoot yourself in the face, though.
3. In the building process, there are a couple of points where you add bricks just as support for further building. Once the main portion is completed, the supports are removed. That's thoughtful.
4. On the other hand, the engineering is...how to put this? Better than dollar store knock-offs, but not Lego-good. I don't think the pieces of the dome of the bridge fit as well as they possibly could. Although, sometimes things like that are designed with a bit of "give" so they pop off instead of warping or breaking. I did a little bodging to get it to hold together a little better.
5. The set comes with five Kreons, Hasbro's answer to the Lego mini-figure. We've got Kirk, Spock, McCoy...and two "specialist" guys. The latter two are rather generic, and could either be random crew members, or bad guys; it's up to you. Also with the specialists, that way Uhura, Sulu, and Scotty can be placed in other sets. Collect them all! (If it's the sort of thing that bothers you, I don't think Chekov received a Kreon yet!) I've purchased several of the Transformers Kreons, and a few of the G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons ones; so I quite like the style. I did get the transporter set with Scotty last week, and a few of the blind-bagged singles like the Gorn and Scotty's pal Keenser.
6. Somewhat amusingly, Kirk's hairpiece kept falling off. Although that's a little annoying, since to get another one I'd have to buy another large set! Maybe it's on well enough now, so I don't want to just knock it off again yet.
7. I'm not positive I got the saucer-section correctly attached, but once on, it was pretty solid.
8. Number of stickers in the set: 11. Number of stickers applied straight: charitably, maybe two...
Overall? Not too bad. Reckon we'll have some more fun with it over time. If you're a Lego purist, I don't know if I could recommend it to you, but I'm a little more easy-going on that front.

Monday, April 21, 2014

...probably not the reason I'm late today, but we'll go with that. (Barely touched my "work" computer all weekend!)

I don't know exactly how closely this figure hews to the New 52 redesign, but the colossal shoulder pads make his waist seem tiny. Fashion in action! Maybe I can find some wrestling title belt to help flesh him out...This particular Darkseid was seven bucks at Tuesday Mornings, which is conveniently located by the McDonalds my kids insist on going to if I foolishly give them any choice in the matter. And at seven bucks, my reptile hindbrain is usually going to buy a figure up.

Tomorrow: hopefully a bunch of figures on another recent markdown purchase, that took me hours to put together...Read more!

Friday, April 18, 2014

From my last Hastings order, Batman: Dead White, written by John Shirley, with a cover by John Van Fleet. A slightly-past Year One Batman faces the ruthless cunning of White Eyes, who's planning a strike against Washington D.C. Meth, high-powered homemade weapons, corrupt cops, and way more racial slurs than I was expecting. Not from Batman, of course, but it's mildly surprising since you don't see that in the comics. (Do you? Not often, I'd say. Pre-52, anyway...)

It is, of course, immensely satisfying to see Batman beat the stuffing out of white power goons. And the conclusion, where Bats catches up with a low-level crackhead that escaped him a couple of times prior, is great. Well worth the $2.39 it ran me, and Hastings really should be giving me a kickback by now.

I'm in the middle of training at work, and a little fried, but have a good Easter! Read more!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Even though IDW is killing it with some of their licensed comics, the one seemingly most likely for me to read, is the one that hasn't worked for me yet. Like today's book! From 2013, Star Trek #24, written by Mike Johnson, story consultant Roberto Orci, pencils by Claudia Balboni, inks by Marina Castelvetro.

The "Story so Far" recap under the credits seems to be referring to a different issue, since this one is midway through the Gorn story. And even though the old "Arena" Original Series Gorn is on the cover, the species has been redesigned a couple of times, on Enterprise and for the movie-based video game.
From a previous encounter with them, Kirk is still having nightmares about them; as the Enterprise arrives at Parthenon 559 and discovers the survivors of a Gorn massacre. Having missed the prior issue, I was slightly confused by Kirk mentioning the Gorn entering their galaxy "through the rip in space-time caused by the Helios Device." Kay...whether these Gorn are an advance scout for an invasion or mere stragglers, this time Kirk feels ready for them. So of course, he and his security team are captured inside of five minutes.

Captured, but not killed; since these Gorn aren't part of the invading army. Instead of seeking "nothing but blood, nothing but death," the nicer Gorn look for a different path. Of course, mess with them and they'll cut you up: Spock discovers evidence the human survivors actually started the massacre, and the Gorn were defending themselves.
Kirk places the planet under Federation quarantine: the leader of the miners is pissed, but pretty obviously a jerk. This issue isn't a complete rehash of "Arena" (perhaps the previous one was...) but it does share some points. I kinda wish IDW would forego these sorta kinda remakes of classic episodes and just do new stuff. In the same way I really wish Star Trek Into Darkness had steered clear of Khan. Or at least not coyly denied it until it happened.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Who are the mysterious boarders? Well, one of them is getting a better action figure later this year; but they're both somewhat interchangeable. To me, anyway.

I hopefully didn't entirely swipe the "open mike" bit from the Futurama episode "The Problem with Popplers." The alien Lrrr delivers an ultimatum to earth, then continues with the camera still on...Read more!